  Storyline, continued...
The children go on their way, shocked and disheartened at this new threat. Getting away gave them an advantage; now they don't have to face all the Masters at once, instead one by one. Their first antagonist is Metalseadramon, as they walk by the seashore and he is the master of the ocean. Metalseadramon recruits Scorpiomon to help kill the digidestined, but Joe and Mimi (and their Digimon) foil that plan, and they all try to escape riding on Zudomon. Metalseadramon is attacking and it looks hopeless, when Whamon suddenly appears and swallows them up! He takes them away. But Metalseadramon follows, of course, along with a number of Divermon (smaller but quite nasty Digimon who are working for him). Whamon tries several tactics and routes to escape the pursuers but in the end it's a showdown between him and Metalseadramon. Given that the Master is a Mega, it's not a very even battle, but Wargreymon - who is apparently a "dramon destroyer" - helps too, defeating the first Dark Master! It is too late for Whamon, he died in the fight. All of the ocean suddenly disappears - as its Master died, the whole thing had to be reconfigured. Apparently Digimon never die, they are only reconfigured. Mimi can't accept this so easily and makes grave markers for all their Digimon friends who died; Wizardmon, Chuumon, Whamon, Piximon... they don't have bodies to be buried, but they will be remembered. And now the hostility within the group shows its head. Mimi, realising that every time they fight a friend of theirs dies, thinks it's not worth it and doesn't want to have to fight any more. Tai says it's a war and usual rules don't apply - and anyway, they have to avenge their friends, they can't give up. Matt rips into Tai for being insensitive (Mimi is quite upset) and says he should give her more time. "Not all of us have ice running through our veins like you, Tai!" -Matt This is quite a fierce argument and it puts everyone into a bad mood. They wander away from the not-ocean and gravesites, and into a forest. Unfortunately, forests are Puppetmon's domain. This second Dark Master enjoys playing games, although not the usual sort. In his house, he has a set of digidestined dolls, and he also controls the forest. Strange things begin to happen. As Puppetmon picks them up and drops them, kids disappear, reappear, etc. The Digimon aren't affected, and before long Matt and TK are the only ones left with them. The earlier fighting soured the mood between the brothers a little; Matt assures TK he will protect him, but TK resents this - he's been fighting alongside the other kids, and can take care of himself to an extent. Matt realises TK is growing up, but still wants to look out for him. More teleportation weirdness happens. Puppetmon then seeks out a particular victim and thinks TK would be fun to play with. He goes to Matt and TK in person, and Matt tries to protect his brother, but is tied up. The roles have reversed; now TK goes to play with Puppetmon in return for his brother not being killed. The two run around Puppetmon's house, playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek where TK is actually running for his life. Patamon has gone after TK, trying to find his charge, and the two meet up. They find how Puppetmon was controlling everyone and destroy it. TK outsmarts Puppetmon and escapes. Back at the group (who have all met up, and freed Matt ^^;), everyone is thrilled to see TK again, who is proud that he could take care of himself. Matt, however, feels awful - like he wasn't needed - and slinks off by himself for a while. Matt talks to Gabumon. He feels he's a useless jerk and holding the others back - that all the others have changed for the better since coming to the digital world, but he has stayed the same. He wonders how he can reach his full potential and resents having acquired the crest of Friendship, which he feels he does not deserve. Cherrymon, a talking tree Digimon, finds the two, and after a lot of convincing talking plants a seed of doubt into Matt's mind - the only way he can change as a person and reach his full potential is by beating his rival, Tai. Matt doesn't want to believe it, but somehow he has always felt it was true. Gabumon feels that Cherrymon is manipulating Matt and says so, but also says that it's totally Matt's choice. He will always stick fully by his digidestined partner and not question his decisions - even if he feels they're wrong. He realises Matt needs to make his own decisions, and assures him that friendship and loyalty are very real, no matter what Cherrymon may say. Matt is touched and his crest reacts, making Gabumon warp-digivolve. Cherrymon tells Puppetmon that it wasn't easy setting Matt against his friend, even one he often got angry at. He thinks the digidestined are stronger than they seem, and the bond between Matt and Gabumon is extraordinary. Puppetmon is furious that Cherrymon implies he can't easily destroy all the kids, and kills him. While this little drama is unfolding, the other kids are being chased by Garbagemon and their Digimon trying to fight back. One of these last virus Digimon is just attacking and its attack is about to hit, when - Metalgarurumon appears to destroy the Garbagemon! The kids are happy to see Matt again, having been worried about him and going to go look for him. But Matt came back to fight Tai. They argue for a while, and one of the points Matt makes is that if they were chosen to save the world, who chose them? He thinks it was an accident they were picked. Tai and Agumon really don't want to fight, but Metalgarurumon is attacking so they have no choice. Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon fight above the treetops while Tai and Matt have a punch-up below. Everyone else is upset, and some of the other Digimon start arguing themselves, disagreeing on what to do about the situation. Puppetmon is watching this with delight - they're destroying themselves. But before any serious damage can be done, Kari, who has wandered away to talk to a strange apparition that nobody else can see, provides a distraction. She calls the others together, and they all fly off into the sky in some weird parallel-universey-thing (that's a technical term, folks - hey, *I* don't know what it's meant to be!). When flying off, the kids see a glimpse of Parrotmon - the Digimon that had fought Greymon on Highton View Terrace four years ago! The light Kari had seen before is using her to speak - I guess because of her crest. It gets kind of weird here, they're taken to a kind of building and a bunch of things are explained. Rather than muddle things up hopelessly I'll just make dot points - I think some of these are important to the plot.
After all this has been explained and shown, the kids are let back into reality, Puppetmon's forest where they started. Kari does not remember a thing that happened, least of all having said all she did. Matt's earlier concern had been addressed - the non-physical light beings, like the one that had communicated through Kari, had chosen them. The hostility between Matt and Tai has thus faded, but Matt still feels that maybe to change as a person, he has to be on his own for a while. He leaves the group with no hard feelings. The others are going to go on but Mimi refuses to, saying she hates the fighting and doesn't want to see more of her friends get hurt. Joe says he'll stay with Mimi because it's not safe for her by herself. (Aww. ^_^.) Some of them think it's a bad idea for everyone to be splitting off again - a sign of disaster in the past - but it is true that they can cover more ground that way. And as Gatomon assures them, they really are the digidestined so when the time is right and destiny dictates, they'll all meet up again anyway. Joe and Mimi go off and see a giant meteor flying through the sky. They go to where it crash-lands and find that Ogremon has been crushed under the resulting wreckage. Against everyone else's advice, Mimi goes to help him and the two kids look after his injuries. This meteor crashing was Etemon's comeback, although nobody realises that yet. Meanwhile, the main group is discussing what to do, and decide to go to Puppetmon's house. Two of Puppetmon's "friends"/guards go with them as tour guides and prevent them from killing themselves on all the dangerous toys. Puppetmon doesn't have any real friends, the ones he does have don't really have a choice, serving him because he's so powerful. Ogremon is puzzled but grateful to the kids for their help. They talk for some time. Mimi says he needs more purpose in life than just to beat Leomon, but Ogremon says it's a rivalry that goes beyond time, or something like that. He also says he must repay the digidestined, on his honour and moral code. Metaletemon shows up to revenge himself on the digidestined - when Etemon was sucked up into the black hole, he was in pieces for years and years of agony, but determined to come back better than ever, and managed to successfully digivolve into a Mega Digimon. It's looking rather hopeless when a giant lion comes and rescues them. He takes them to a ruined city where shells of buildings once scattered around the digital world are. They go inside the ruins of the diner where Joe once had to work for Veggiemon, and the lion - Saberleomon - devolves into Leomon. Apparently, since his exposure to the digivices, he developed the ability to randomly digivolve, but he can't control it. Ogremon and Leomon are going to fight but don't really get into it as usual. The group find a scared Gekomon and Otamamon hiding in the floorboards. Their castle was destroyed by the Dark Masters and they had been hiding ever since. They are very happy to see "Princess Mimi" again. (They were the Digimon whose leader she sang for back in the Demidevimon saga.) The main group is, at the time, fighting Puppetmon, who sends out a lot of Redvegiemon, who are easily defeated. Everyone is as fully digivolved as possible and go after Puppetmon, but it still looks as though he might win. Metaletemon reappears with the aim of killing Joe and Mimi, but Leomon digivolves and fights. It doesn't look like he can win, and Mimi won't let Palmon fight, but after Metaletemon brags about the strong metal he is made of, Zudomon cleverly realises his hammer is made of something that can destroy it, and does a Vulcan's Hammer actually THROWING the hammer itself at the stupid monkey! It cracks the metal and The King is eventually defeated. Puppetmon is winning but Metalgarurumon appears and beats him with one attack! Sora calls her thanks but Matt and his Digimon slink off. Saberleomon was badly injured and dies, saying he is going to Primary Village to be reconfigured or something. Ogremon is sad to see his worthy rival die. Mimi decides they all have to go to Primary Village, but apparently it's in ruins now. Still, they do have a goal. Mimi realises that after they beat the Dark Masters, Primary Village will be restored and so their friends can possibly come back. She is willing to fight now! Mimi, Joe, Gomamon and Palmon leave with their new friends, Ogremon, Otamamon and Gekomon, to find new allies who are against the Dark Masters. We leave Joe and Mimi for a while. Team Tai is walking through a desert, and Kari lags behind - before collapsing. She has been feeling sick and come down with a fever. Kabuterimon flies around and finds a city, taking everyone there. The city is a weird combination of many cities in the real world ("there's New York!" "no, it's Rome!" "that's the Arc de Triomphe!"). Once there, Izzy logs onto a computer in a phone booth to find nearby hospitals. Tai is really nervous about his sister - when Kari was about four or five, something similar happened. She just collapsed when Tai was supposed to be looking after her. She had been sick but Tai was so keen on playing soccer that he took her with him instead of staying home to look after her, and that made her worse. At the hospital, Izzy logs on to his computer again to find out which medicine they should give to Kari. Every time Izzy logs on, a higher power elsewhere - Machinedramon - and his flunkies are using that to track the digidestined. Now they have an exact location. Tai and Izzy split off from the others to look around, and Mekanorimon and Tankmon attack. Meanwhile, Piedmon is watching the chaos from far away... Izzy puts two and two together when metal monsters converge on them after he logs on. Tai is furious with him, but it gives Izzy inspiration - he confuses the system, causing Machinedramon to think they are in several locations at once. As they can't get an exact location, Gigadramon and Megadramon attack, blowing up buildings in the attempt to total the city and the digidestined with it. Tai runs back to his sister just as the hospital explodes - but of course, the kids escaped in time. Machinedramon appears to do the job and kill them himself, and suddenly this warphole-type-thing appears (I don't know what's going on ^^;) and the kids get thrown off in different directions. TK and Kari (with their Digimon) end up in a sewer. Kari sleeps for hours, and when she wakes up, feels somewhat better, her fever broken. The kids are soon found by Sora and Biyomon. They all wander around for a while and find a large number of Numemon being ordered around by a Warumonzaemon. They are being treated cruelly and forced to work to run the power of the city. Kari is horrified at their fate and while they other kids lead Warumonzaemon off, her crest reacts. She releases all the Numemon from their chains. The Numemon call her "Queen Kari". Warumonzaemon (and Sora/TK, who he is chasing) come back to the sewer and the mutant teddy bear is furious that someone released the Numemon. Kari's crest is lighting her whole body, and everyone is filled with energy. Gatomon digivolves and beats Warumonzaemon. Meanwhile, Tai and Izzy are looking for Kari, but have been walking for hours and everyone is exhausted. Tai wants to keep going and he gets into a fight with Izzy. But their Digimon can't digivolve, they are too exhausted. Around then, Andromon - an old friend from the first saga who had a black gear - appears. He has been rounding up forces who oppose Machinedramon, and is happy to see the digidestined. Kari's light leads herself, TK and Sora to the other kids, and everyone's a group again. Machinedramon shows up to attack. Kari is mad and steps forward to meet Machinedramon, and suddenly the Mega Digimon is swamped with hundreds of Numemon anxious to protect their "queen". He kills them all with one blast, and Kari is horrified. Her crest reacts again, giving everyone the energy they need. Agumon warp-digivolves and, being a dramon destroyer, slices Machinedramon into tiny pieces, where he disintegrates. The whole city begins to dissolve and the kids fly off on the angel Digimon. Kari wants to build memorials to the Numemon and the others agree to help. And elsewhere, Piedmon is still watching, and laughing... Joe and Mimi continue walking, and Joe thinks about what his older brother told him about standing up for himself and living his own life. The two digidestined are now also joined by Meramon and Frigimon, and Mimi finds that life is much more comfortable when there are a lot of friends around to do things like find food. ^_^. Meanwhile, the main group has reached the top of Spiral Mountain and are met by LadyDevimon, Piedmon's gatekeeper. Angewomon dukes it out with her viral counterpart, while Tai orders Sora and TK to take Birdramon and Angemon, and go look for Matt/Joe/Mimi. Tai is looking at the big picture; he realises that Piedmon will soon arrive and he is very powerful, so they'll need the whole group to win. Angewomon, with a little help from Megakabuterimon, beats LadyDevimon and sure enough, Piedmon does appear. Agumon warp-digivolves in preparation, but Tai won't let the other two (Izzy and Kari) fight - they are a little tired from the previous battle and need to conserve their energy for the big final battle when the others come. He also wants to protect them. Joe and Mimi do reach Primary Village, but it is devastated - everything is devoid of colour, totally charcoaled, and there are many smashed eggs lying around. It's a horrible sight. Joe hears a harmonica and runs to find its source, and it's Elecmon - the babysitter Digimon, with no babys left to sit. He's playing Matt's harmonica, which he found lying on the beach somewhere. Joe realises Matt has crossed to a nearby island and says he will go by himself to find him, leaving Mimi with all their new Digimon allies. Joe also wants the chance to find out his role in the team, to feel better about himself, to get some time alone, and to "find himself", I guess. Where IS Matt? Sure enough, he's on the other island, wandering through a dark cave with Gabumon. This cave is not physically real (thus, when Joe reaches the island he looks all around and can't find Matt) but is created by Matt's dark feelings. Matt feels lonely and useless and full of self-hate. Nobody needs him, and it turned out his main purpose in life - to protect his brother - was no longer needed. The more depressed Matt feels, the darker the cave becomes. Fortunately, he still has a best friend with him, and Gabumon manages to convince him of his worth, and Matt finally lets his real feelings show. The cave disappears, and Joe runs up to Matt and returns his harmonica. Sora and TK have landed on the same island, but Sora is despairing that they will ever find the other kids... the task is too big... she's feeling overwhelmed at her responsibility of saving the world, of finding the others or going back to help fight, or... suddenly she's sucked up by a big hole. TK stares in horror and Joe and Matt find him right at that moment. They all climb down to go after Sora. Biyomon is in the cave shouting at Sora, who isn't responding at all. She's muttering about "there's no place like home" and how she has to help Tai, and save the world. Matt realises she's going through the same thing he was, and tries to talk her out of it, but knows she can only snap out of it if she actually wants to. In the end, it is actually a comment by Joe - that maybe they were chosen because they're the only ones who can do it. Sora realises how valuable she is and feels better. The four kids set off back to Spiral Mountain, where Tai is exhausted. He vainly boasts that he's got Piedmon 'right where he wants him', as he himself lies exhausted and battered. Wargreymon is also in bad shape, but Tai still refuses to let the others help. Izzy is frantic, and then - the others appear. Tai knew Matt wouldn't let him down. Matt's crest of friendship glows so brightly that it effectively heals Wargreymon. Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon team up, and some of the other Digimon turn ultimate, to do battle. However, Piedmon has an ace up his sleeve - magic tricks! He throws a white cloth onto the two Megas and their human partners, which turns them into tiny keychains! Everyone else, frightened at their strongest being so easily defeated, turns and runs. They try to escape but one by one they're all taken. Finally, only TK, Kari and Patamon are left. They try to escape Piedmon but he is strong enough to beat Angemon down easily. TK determines he'll be brave - like his brother would want him to - and not give up. His crest reacts and Angemon digivolves to MagnaAngemon. MagnaAngemon uses "Magna Antidote" to restore all the keychains to real people. Piedmon doesn't give up so easily and calls on his HUGE army of Vilemon to fight. The kids are preparing for a tedious battle when Mimi appears with all their allies (she is riding Unimon - I think that's his name? and also has recruited a LOT more Otamamon and Gekomon). There's a big battle, and Piedmon is finally defeated by a combo of attacks, particularly those of the two Megas and MagnaAngemon. However, it's not over... Jennai had been doing his research, and found an ancient inscription or something (ah, gotta love them ancient inscriptions) telling of some new evil. Sure enough, the new evil appears - surprise surprise. It's Apocalymon, who caused the evil imbalance that gave rise to the Dark Masters in the first place! In the real world, on Earth, the kids' parents - and humans all around the world - are standing staring at the sky. The rifts in it reveal Apocalymon, the the parents fear for their children's lives. Humanity is waiting for their fate to be decided... Apocalymon is made of pain and sorrow - of the Digimon who lacked the strength to digivolve and disappeared instead, of the species who became extinct. He led a miserable existance for many years, trapped in the darkness and fire, where he could see the digidestined in their own world laughing and having fun. He hates them for it, and says he will make the world exist in misery with him so he won't be alone any more. He attacks them, and is very powerful, with the powers of all their past opponents. He dedigivolves all their Digimon, and when everyone is about to redigivolve, he actually rips all their tags and crests into shreds. The kids and their Digimon are powerless, and their bodies start disintegrating - just like all the other Digimon they have seen die and become reconfigured, they disappear. They have lost. They are now in the world of digital data (all these binary digits - 0s and 1s - are flying past in the background, *lol*), being digitally processed. None of them know what to do now, the kids are feeling pretty defeated. But so long as they are still there... their Digimon encourage them. All the kids think back to when they got their crests, and how much they've changed since being in the digital world. They don't need their crests and tags any more. They are inside of them. The crests glow on their chests, and all the Digimon digivolve into Ultimate or Mega. Then they go back (don't ask me how ^^;) to fight Apocalymon... They all attack, watching each other's backs in an unreal, dark landscape with Apocalymon swinging his chains at them. Finally the kids' Digimon destroy all the chains and it seems they have the upper hand. But Apocalymon has his ultimate attack left - the attack that will destroy both worlds. The kids freeze as he attacks, but then think that even now, at this critical stage, they can't give up. They're a team. All the digivices react, sending beams of light to trap Apocalymon and his annihilation attack. The ultimate evil is suddenly, and without fanfare, defeated. The kids are kind of shellshocked. On Earth, the sky is blue and the rifts are closed. Everyone's families are still there, looking happy and relieved. Jim says quietly that he's proud of his brother. This time it really is the end. No more fighting. They are still all floating in the air, and Jennai appears. They look down and see that Digiworld is being reconfigured. It is a new beginning. They go back to Primary Village, which is looking much healthier. It is raining digi-eggs - all the Digimon being reborn. Another chance. Elecmon is delighted, as is everyone else. Kari takes an egg and rubs it to help it hatch, and everyone gathers for a group photo. The egg hatches into a baby Botamon (Agumon's first form). A little later, the kids and their Digimon all sit by the lake where they spent their first night in the digital world, where Gabumon first digivolved. They decide to stay until the end of summer vacation, which will be many years in the digital world. They're all happy, but then they see the sun, which is undergoing solar eclipse. Jennai tells them that this eclipse could mean the end of their lives. It is the closing of the portal to the human world, which means the kids can't stay - in fact, they have less than two hours until they have to leave forever. This is a horrible shock, especially after everyone's happiness at the thought of having won a big battle and being able to stay with their friends. Everyone says their goodbyes. Sora thanks Biyomon for repairing her friendship with her mother. The two reaffirm their friendship and start crying. Joe and Gomamon joke around, trying to hide their feelings, and end up sharing a handshake, for luck. Izzy tells Tentomon he loves him, which shocks the Digimon no end - Izzy, showing emotion?! The two hug. TK and Patamon are both bawling, but stop crying when they realise they're only crying because the other one is. Ever optimistic, the two determine that they'll meet again some day! Matt and Gabumon can't think of anything left to say, after all the things they've said and done together. In the end, Matt simply puts his harmonica to his lips, at his friend's request. The music speaks for both of them. Tai, not far away, starts crying at the sound of the harmonica, but covers it up by teasing Agumon about how bad his aim with Pepper Breath is. The two end up laughing. Kari gives her whistle to Gatomon, telling her they're sure to see each other again. Mimi, meanwhile, is running around, desperately calling out for Palmon. What a time for her Digimon to disappear... actually, Palmon is hiding. She thinks it would be too painful to say goodbye, so she'd rather not. The children regroup, Mimi crying desolately. Unfortunately, there's no time left, and Mimi has to go without saying goodbye. The kids get in the cable car where they spent their first night as digidestined, and it begins to drive off... Palmon runs up, crying, and screaming that she's sorry. Mimi gets to call her goodbyes, and the other kids shout goodbye to their Digimon too. The Digimon run along the ground after the cart, waving, as the cable car flies away into the air, away from the digital world. Away from their friends, and their adventures. Home...
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